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Another theory:
The Universe is permeated by one Soul, Cause of all things and
events; every separate phenomenon as a member of a whole moves in
its place with the general movement; all the various causes
spring into action from one source: therefore, it is argued, the
entire descending claim of causes and all their interaction must
follow inevitably and so constitute a universal determination. A
plant rises from a root, and we are asked on that account to
reason that not only the interconnection linking the root to all
the members and every member to every other but the entire
activity and experience of the plant, as well, must be one
organized overruling, a "destiny" of the plant.
But such an extremity of determination, a destiny so
all-pervasive, does away with the very destiny that is affirmed:
it shatters the sequence and co-operation of causes.
It would be unreasonable to attribute to destiny the movement of
our limbs dictated by the mind and will: this is no case of
something outside bestowing motion while another thing accepts it
and is thus set into action; the mind itself is the prime mover.
Similarly in the case of the universal system; if all that
performs act and is subject to experience constitutes one
substance, if one thing does not really produce another thing
under causes leading back continuously one to another, then it is
not a truth that all happens by causes, there is nothing but a
rigid unity. We are no "We": nothing is our act; our thought is
not ours; our decisions are the reasoning of something outside
ourselves; we are no more agents than our feet are kickers when
we use them to kick with.
No; each several thing must be a separate thing; there must be
acts and thoughts that are our own; the good and evil done by
each human being must be his own; and it is quite certain that we
must not lay any vileness to the charge of the All.
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